Long Term Ecological Research networks share the scientific vision, long-term perspectives and have common objectives; however, they have seldom had the possibility of working under a common umbrella of specific funded projects. The Life + project EnvEurope (2010-2013), leaded by Italy (National Research Council) and involving 11 EC countries, was born inside the European Long-Term Ecosystem Research Network (LTER-Europe) community and aims at the integration and coordination, at the European level, of long-term ecological research and monitoring initiatives, focused on understanding trends and changes of environmental quality, and on the elaboration of relevant detection systems and methods. The project fits into one of the main objectives of the component LIFE+ Environmental Policy and Governance ("Strategic Approach"): strengthening the European process SEIS (Shared Environmental Information System) and the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) initiative, in a context of ecological knowledge transfer from the scientific world to the environmental policies. Project web site: http://www.enveurope.eu